In the U.S., Britain and other western countries, there is a standard for surgical scalpel handles and detachable scalpel blades. The handles are designed to be reusable and the blades sterile packaged and disposable after use. There are three standard handles which are No. 4 (large style), No. 3 and No. 7 (small styles). The No. 4 handle accepts any twenty series (Nos. 20, 21, 22) disposable blades while the No. 3 and No. 7 accept any teen series (Nos. 10, 11, 15) disposable blades.
Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,743 to Shaw et al which gives an accurate description of scalpel handle and blade configurations and engagements using British standard 2982:1958. In this regard, the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,743 is incorporated into the subject disclosure by specific reference. The tool of Shaw was never commercialized since it suffered from several limitations. First, it could only accept either twenty series or teen series blades, but not both. Two separate tools would therefore have been required. Secondly, it would not function well for applying blades onto the handle because the upper and lower jaws completely enclosed the blade so the operator could not visibly see the engagement slot on the blade to facilitate engagement. The major problem with the Shaw device, however, would be its tendency to fracture blades due to the channel members on the jaws completely sandwiching the blades such that blades would snap in two presenting a danger to the user. The Shaw device, however, represents an initial attempt at a hand held device for handling standard blades and handles.
While Shaw's device locked the blade over its entire length in an upper and lower jaw, U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,990 to Shields describes a version where only the blade tip is gripped, and a separate lever is used to lift up the back of the blade. This would permit the hardened steel scalpel blade to flex. Shield's device is rather crude and has to use special blades with a rear tab for lifting up the blade. Flexure of the blade, however, would appear to prevent the blade fracturing drawback of the Shaw device.
More recently, Machida U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,614 took the approach of developing a special handle and blade. However, both the devices of Shields and Machida do not address a solution to the problem of ease of attachment and removal of standard handles and blades.
The safe handling of surgical blades and especially used contaminated blades is very important since infection to surgeons and operating room nurses can readily occur if they are cut handling used blades. A recent study from the Center for Disease Control indicated that surgical personnel are at significant risk for contracting HIV (AIDS) or hepatitis while handling used surgical blades (sharps).